Just say ‘NO’ to SMS Marketing!
Now, I try not to draw ‘lines in the sand’ because I’ll probably end up eating my words, but I would really like to fight the good fight for this one.
Consider this: we as consumers get unsolicited (postal) mail daily, yet this is a universally accepted form of marketing, but, if I were to email the exact same content in an unsolicited manner it (at a much higher %) would be considered obtrusive and further often destructive to the brand we may be marketing. Take that a step further to SMS…even if I opt into an SMS channel for some reason, unequivocally as a customer I do not want to be marketed to. It will do harm to the brand.
Now, utilizing SMS as a customer convenience for one-off scenarios that are directly initiated by the customer is fine, but follow-on unexpected marketing communications represent a significant diminishing return.
Obviously there are many options within this realm that may be considered ‘more right’ than others, but I’d prefer to keep SMS a safe haven for personal communications and not a litany of mass deletes like my email has become.
“sales and marketing” eventually we (the industry) will probably screw this medium up as well.
Don’t get me started on how little people actually read and absorb these days.
Ryan L. Brandt
@launchryan